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President Trump's Brief to SCOTUS on Obamacare is the Right Call

CCHF offers 10-point plan to address America’s failing health care system

ST. PAUL, Minn. —Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) supports the Trump administration’s brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which requests the Court declare the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) invalid: “The entire ACA thus must fall with the individual mandate…”

CCHF supports the 2019 ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the individual mandate is unconstitutional because the penalty-tax for being uninsured has been eliminated (California v. Texas). Because there is no severability clause in the ACA, if one part of the law is found to be unconstitutional, the remainder must be ruled invalid.

“Since the law’s individual mandate has already been ruled unconstitutional by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court should affirm this decision and rule the entire law invalid,” said Twila Brase, president and co-founder of CCHF. “Then the Trump administration should move forward quickly with better ideas for affordable, personalized care and coverage, such as the 10 ideas we’ve already offered to the administration.”

On June 28, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration does not expect to release a detailed health care plan until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. However, CCHF has already provided the Trump administration with recommendations it can utilize now and then.

CCHF’s “Made-in-America Healthcare Act” (MAHA) was sent to the Trump administration last year. The 10-point plan targets the primary root of unaffordability and loss of autonomy in today’s health care system: third-party payment.

“The third-party payment system, which is used to pay most medical bills today, has caused the cost of care and coverage to skyrocket, compromised confidentiality of patient medical records, put outsiders in charge of treatment decisions, and diminished patient access to medical care,” said Brase.

“For millions of Americans, the ACA promised ‘insurance’ but forced them into public programs and corporate health plans, which are allowed to control their doctor’s treatment decisions. They may be ‘covered’ but it doesn’t mean they are being cared for. The ACA did not give people a choice for real insurance. We think our plan will help fix this problem,” Brase concluded.

The CCHF 10-point “Made-in-America Healthcare Act” includes:

• Restoring affordable indemnity medical insurance (catastrophic coverage)

• Taking steps to end the “pre-existing condition” problem

• Freedom for seniors to opt-out of Medicare without losing Social Security benefits

• Lower prescription costs

• Restored patient control, confidentiality and consent

Last year, CCHF worked closely with the Trump administration to separate Medicare enrollment from access to Social Security benefits. Using an Executive Order on Medicare, President Trump ordered this separation so millions of seniors will soon be able to freely opt-out of Medicare without being forced to lose or payback their Social Security retirement benefits.

CCHF encourages the Trump administration to consider the MAHA plan and proactively work to better the U.S. health care system, even before the Supreme Court rules on the ACA case.

CCHF maintains a patient-centered, privacy-focused, free-market perspective. CCHF has worked in its home state of Minnesota and at the national level for more than 20 years to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. In 2016, CCHF launched The Wedge of Health Freedom, an online directory of direct-pay practices (JointheWedge.com).

Twila Brase, RN, PHN has been named by Modern Healthcare as one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care.” She is the host of the daily Health Freedom Minute radio program heard by over 5 million weekly listeners on more than 800 radio stations nationwide, and the author of the eight-time award-winning book, “Big Brother in the Exam Room: The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records.

 

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